Flooding affects a large number of houses every year. The repair cost of repeatedly fixing flooded houses, and/or buying out flooded houses, is quite high. It would be highly desirable to provide a means for lifting such houses high enough to be removed from the likelihood of any additional flooding for a cost that is less than the repair costs of repeat house flooding or buyout programs.
International Patent Application No PCT/US91/06401, published Mar. 5, 1992, to the present inventor Kenneth J. Kelso, and incorporated herein by reference, discloses a hydraulic self contained foundation leveling shim that is provided and placed in the upper end of a poured concrete foundation leveling pier before curing. Hydraulic hoses lead to the surface to allow hydraulic fluid to be pumped into and removed from the hydraulic chamber of the shim to raise or lower the foundation on the pier. A plurality of the piers and shims is used to level the foundation of a structure that has settled in unstable soil. A primary object is to provide an insertion means to respectively adjust a structure as it becomes uneven or unstable, by inserting matter which may comprise any solution of liquid, gas, and/or solid particles.
While the above described device provides an exemplary means for adjusting or leveling a house due to foundation shifts, it does not provide a means for lifting an already constructed house sufficiently high to remove the house from flooding hazards.
Consequently, there remains a need to provide an improved lifting system and method that may be utilized less expensively than traditional buyout or repair means to prevent future housing flooding. Those of skill in the art will appreciate the present invention which addresses the above and other problems.